Five of 35 Bangladeshi nationals arrested by Malaysia’s law enforcement agencies last month for their involvement with the Islamic State have been charged for “terrorism-related activities” while 15 of the men remain “under investigation”, a document prepared by the Bangladesh embassy in Kuala Lumpur reveals.
Fourteen of the Bangladeshi men, who were raided and arrested in Selangor and Johor states in an extensive counter-terrorism operation by Malaysia’s Defence Intelligence Organisation, which began on April 24 and continued till the middle of June, have been deported or are in the process of being sent back to Bangladesh, the document reveals.
They were categorised as men who violated Malaysian immigration laws.
The document categorised and identified the Bangladeshi nationals. However, Northeast News is withholding revealing the names for legal reasons.
The document, which Northeast News has accessed, reveals the extent of the extremist network that the Bangladesh nationals were part of in Malaysia.
However, Bangladesh’s Home Ministry Adviser Lieutenant General (retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury chose to make light of the arrests and deportations, going so far as to say that “no Bangladeshi terrorists” in Malaysia and that “three persons sent back” were in violation of visa regulations.
“There is no extremism in Bangladesh. It existed earlier but there is extremism or terrorism in Bangladesh now,” Chowdhury said, dismissing reports, including Malaysian law enforcement claims, that there was terrorism in his country or that there was export of militancy or fundamentalist tendencies to other countries.
While Chowdhury’s claims flew in the face of MDIO and Malaysian police findings, which focused on the arrested Bangladeshi nationals’ involvement in a “militant extremist” conspiracy to destabilise that country, there is little that the Mohammad Yunus-led interim regime can offer as an excuse for setting free over 70 convicted and under-trial alleged persons who were part of terror organisations.
MDIO investigations and interrogation of the Bangladeshi nationals revealed that they not only followed the Islamic State’s ideology and goals but were “actively involved” in running a “recruitment cell” in Malaysia.
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Their aim was to disseminate an extremist ideology, secure financial sources to execute their militant objectives and destablise governments in their home country.
A June 27 press release issued by the Malaysian authorities had said that Kuala Lumpur would “not encourage or tolerate” any extremist ideology or foreign groups involved in propagating militancy on Malaysian soil.
The release says the Malaysian civil state “has been and will continue to deal with all extremist activities strongly”, even as the Kementerian Dalam Negeri or the Malaysian Home Ministry issued orders to intensify counter-intelligence and counter-terror measures.
